More Articles

Gazillion Bubbles would be an easy toy for most children to use. Just turn the switch on, and
out come bubbles.

It’s a different story for children such as Emma Buchwald. The 9-year-old has cerebral palsy
and would require help to turn the switch that runs the toy on and off.

But the modified version of the toy she will open this Christmas comes with something extra:
a giant button hooked to the toy that will allow her to play with it by herself.

“I think it will be rewarding for her,” said her mother, Heather, as she about 25 other
families learned how to modify toys at Nationwide Children’s Hospital yesterday.

Toys that light up, talk, sing songs, dance or race and come with small switches and buttons
can be tough to negotiate for any disabled child.

“We have issues with toys that she can independently work on her own,” Buchwald said.

Some toymakers have made versions of toys that have been adapted for children with
disabilities, but they tend to cost several times more than regular toys and, like other toys, can
break easily.

With money donated by service organizations Sertoma and the MJB Foundation, Children’s
Hospital bought five kinds of toys and the biomedical engineering staff and occupational and speech
therapists showed the families how the toys can be modified so their disabled children can play
with them.

The staff taught family members how to take apart toys like a talking Elmo, Chuck the Truck
and a race track and add a wire so that much bigger buttons of varying size could be attached by a
cord. The children could play with the toy in their lap, on a table or even on the floor by working
the button on their own.

With their new skills, moms and dads can provide their children with more toys that help them
begin to develop skills they’ll need as they get older if they want to be more independent,
therapists said.

“If they start young and if they start with toys, they will be capable of moving on to more
advanced technology,” said Angela Meyer, an occupational therapist at the hospital.